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A bipartisan group of House lawmakers from Michigan is intensifying its push for EPA to list all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, a step that would give the agency authority to compel cleanups, weeks after EPA agreed to list two of the most common PFAS substances.

Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) has co-sponsored carbon tax bills and also hopes to be the ranking member on the new House select climate committee, though he faces opposition from a long-time critic of carbon controls.

Environmentalists are pushing back against EPA's efforts to stay all regulatory challenges and other litigation where the agency is a party until the government shutdown ends, arguing officials including Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys have authority to keep working on any case where a judge orders proceedings to continue.

A Democrat's demand for a recorded vote on EPA's waste nominee killed pledges to revise its science rule, advance the long-sought assessment of formaldehyde and list two PFAS as “hazardous substances.”

Senate Democrats are blasting EPA's use of staffing resources during the government shutdown to prepare for acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler's imminent Senate confirmation hearing, charging that the move could be unlawful and conflicts with the agency's formal shutdown contingency plan.

Seven energy-related labor unions are urging Congress to revisit the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade climate bill that passed the House in 2009 in lieu of both a carbon tax and a so-called “Green New Deal” that are gaining political traction, putting further strain on an already divided Democratic caucus.